Elephants behaviour book?
Hi, I'm a owner/manager of a lodge in Namibia.I'ts on the border of Mamili NP in the Caprivi Region.
We have so many Elephants in the are, and often also at the lodge.
I'm looking for a good book about Elephants.
I'm not looking for a coffe table type of book, nut more a scientific one, helping me to understand their Behaviour and reading their movements.
I's quite important for us here at the lodge to add to our experience on the field also some scientific knowledge.
Thanks for the help
1
The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation by R. Sukumar gives a good overview of both African and Asian Elephants. It's easy to read and is written by one of the experts in elephant ecology (although he studies Asian elephants). If you can obtain the book from a source in India it will be much cheaper than somewhere like Amazon.Another way to keep up with the most current information is to either follow some journal contents (like African Journal of Ecology) or search under google scholar for any recent papers on African elephants. Most authors will be happy to send you a pdf file of any interesting articles, and ecology/behaviour papers are easy enough to read. It would be good to also have some info on how important elephants are for the habitat and other organisms as well e.g.: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11607299
3
The Elephant's Secret Sense by Caitlin O'Connell is excellent. It focuses on elephant communication, but is full of information about elephant natural history and conservation. The book is written by a scientist but is very easy to read and interesting. It also happens to be set in Namibia, so would certainly be of interest to your visitors. I highly recommend it.5
Two possible suggestions :" Among the Elephants " by Iain Douglas-Hamilton - his book on his ground breaking research around Lake Manyara
and
" Behavior Guide to African Mammals " by Richard Estes. My constant companion when in the bush. It's a compendium of reserach reports from many many sources and is written in an easy to read style. Covers mammals from Aardwolf to Zorilla. Every lodge should have one !
In looking up the details of "Amonst the Elephants", I came across Elehost site that seems to also have some good ideas. There's a book on there by Joyce Poole who is famous for her long-term study in Ambolseli.
